Initially, the Dogecoin cryptocurrency was created as a joke based on a popular meme. However, over time, it has become one of the fastest-growing crypto assets.
The coin’s market cap exceeded $89 million already in 2014, and today, DOGE is the 8th-ranked crypto coin by market cap. However, before you start working with this coin, you need to know how it works. Today, we have prepared a guide where you will learn what Dogecoin meaning is and whether it is worth buying. Let’s get started!
DOGE Definition: What Is Dogecoin?
First, you need to understand the Dogecoin definition. In simple terms, Dogecoin is a first-generation cryptocurrency that was created back in 2013. As already mentioned, its story began as a joke between two software engineers.
Crypto Meme
In December 2013, Jackson Palmer combined two of the most popular Internet trends of the time: a Shiba Inu dog meme and cryptocurrency in one single image. He shared the picture on Twitter. People interested in cryptocurrency appreciated the joke, and another software engineer, Billy Marcus, went even further. He contacted Jackson Palmer and launched his own coin, making some changes to the Bitcoin source code.
Dogecoin Growth History
In a couple of months of trading, Dogecoin reached a shocking $89 million market cap.
In 2015, both founders of Dogecoin decided to say goodbye to the project, but the cryptocurrency continued to grow. After 4 years, in December 2017, Dogecoin finally reached the $1 billion market cap. However, in 2018, the cryptocurrency market cap fell sharply — in December 2018, it was about $276 million.
Dogecoin’s biggest jump in value occurred in early 2021 when the Reddit GME (GameStop) community and business mogul Elon Musk began showing interest in the cryptocurrency.
What Is Dogecoin (DOGE) Used For?
What is DOGE used for? Well, Dogecoin is primarily used as an online blockchain-based currency for payments and instant transactions. Users can send and receive DOGE with their Dogecoin (DOGE) wallets within seconds and with minimal transaction fees.
How does DOGE work? Due to the popularity of DOGE, many online companies and platforms accept it as payment. Below we have mentioned some of the well-known companies that are already experienced in accepting Dogecoin.
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks is the very first NBA club to use Dogecoin in their payment system. Fans of this club can buy goods as well as tickets to games using this cryptocurrency.
Kessler Collection
The Kessler Group, which offers luxury hotels, partnered with BitPay and accepted DOGE as a valid payment method. As a result, the company has become the first luxury hotel chain in the US to accept cryptocurrency payments.
SpaceX and Tesla
SpaceX plans to launch its DOGE-1 lunar mission this year. It is said that this will be the very first mission to be partially funded by cryptocurrency.
In 2022, Tesla began accepting the Dogecoin (DOGE) cryptocurrency for certain merchandise on its website. Dogecoin is currently the only digital currency Tesla accepts.
Dogecoin (DOGE) Overview
| DOGE Price | $0.07968 |
| DOGE Price Change 24h | -2.24% |
| DOGE Price Change 7d | -13.01% |
| DOGE Market Cap | $11,088,997,925 |
| DOGE Circulating Supply | 139,109,626,384 DOGE |
| DOGE Trading Volume 24h | $773,049,823 |
| DOGE All-Time High (ATH) | $0.7376 |
| DOGE All-Time Low (ATL) | $0.00008547 |
How Does Dogecoin Work?
Dogecoin is similar in principle to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin, which use a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. The PoW algorithm allows mining Dogecoin like BTC and LTC.
How does Dogecoin work? In the Dogecoin network, a new block is created every minute and added to the blockchain. For comparison, a new block is added every 10 minutes in the Bitcoin network. Moreover, unlike BTC, which uses a SHA-256 algorithm, Dogecoin uses a Scrypt algorithm. Therefore, Dogecoin mining is much less energy intensive and faster than BTC. To ensure the security of the blockchain, Dogecoin, like other cryptocurrencies, uses cryptography.
Unlike Bitcoin, DOGE is an inflationary coin because there is no supply limit. This is one of the main reasons why Dogecoin has a lower price than many other deflationary coins. It is important to remember that this cryptocurrency has never been innovative, was never intended to address any specific gap in the cryptocurrency market, and does not receive updates as often as other coins.
DOGE Supply
As mentioned above, Dogecoin was created as a joke by a couple of software developers by modifying the Bitcoin source code. The two main changes that the Dogecoin creators made were the supply and accelerated block generation. Initially, 100 billion DOGE was issued. Currently, there are more than 139 billion DOGE in circulation.
What is Dogecoin supply? Unlike other popular cryptocurrencies, such as BTC and LTC, which have a predetermined maximum amount, DOGE has an unlimited supply. As miners continue to mine the coin, the DOGE turnover will also increase.
Dogecoin Price Today
Dogecoin showed great performance in 2021 and became one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. Within one month, the market cap of Dogecoin exceeded $88 billion.
However, DOGE was expected to decline soon. Dogecoin has high volatility, so its rate can change dramatically in short periods of time.
What is Dogecoin price? Even though the current value of DOGE is far below its ATH, the token has already shown significant promise. Over the past month, the coin has increased by 7.90% in price. By 2026, the price of DOGE is expected to cross the $0.088227 mark. Like most other cryptocurrencies, the coin is highly volatile. Still, since the founding of Dogecoin, DOGE has shown steady growth.
Elon Musk and Dogecoin
Elon Musk, founder and current CEO of Tesla Motors, is one of the main reasons why Dogecoin’s value has skyrocketed. He is the most famous cryptocurrency supporter, and his tweets caused the biggest spike in the Dogecoin price. The Dogecoin community even started calling it a DogeFather. At some point, the price of Dogecoin rose by 100% after only one tweet from Elon Musk.
Elon Musk’s interest in the entire cryptocurrency world is not a surprise. In February 2021, he revealed that Tesla had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin.
Dogecoin Mining
In the early stages, Dogecoin mining was much easier as there were few users on the network. Back then, almost anyone could mine dogecoins. Today, there are three ways to mine DOGE.
Solo Mining
Solo mining means that you will mine cryptocurrency alone. This type of mining has several nuances. First of all, you will need expensive equipment. Thus, you have to be prepared for high electricity bills.
Mining Pool
A mining pool is a way of mining cryptocurrencies collectively. It’s easier because the computing power used to mine new blocks is used simultaneously from all devices. This increases the chances that a new block can be found quickly. However, the profit from mining is shared by everyone and is divided in proportion to the contribution of each miner. Below are the most popular mining pools that you can join:
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- AikaPool
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- Prohashing
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- Multipool
Cloud Mining
Cloud mining involves renting computer power from an organization and paying a commission for a certain period of use: a week, a month, a year, etc. Cloud miners do not need to buy equipment or pay for electricity. All these costs are already included in the cost of equipment rental. Two popular cloud mining pools you can join include:
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- Nicehash
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- Genesis Mining
Dogecoin Mining Reward
The reward for validating one Dogecoin block is 10,000 DOGE. Still, if you earn this reward through a mining pool, then 10,000 DOGE will be divided among all participants.
Criticism of Dogecoin
Over the years, Dogecoin, along with its amazing growth rate, has also come under a lot of criticism. Bitware CEO, Pat White, says it’s the only cryptocurrency that started out as a joke, and its rise in value was only due to hype and some publicity stunts. He also believes that the people who invested in Dogecoin at the beginning of 2021 have already made their profits. However, now spending money on buying Dogecoin, especially for long-term investment, is not the best idea, according to White. One of the reasons is a steady stream of new cryptocurrencies entering the market.
Pat White also explains that the code-level verification and security of the Dogecoin protocol are different from Ethereum and Bitcoin. Also, Dogecoin doesn’t get as many updates as other major cryptocurrencies, and it also lacks a robust mining community. Together, all these reasons increase the likelihood of hacker attacks on the network, which can create serious problems for investors.
Should I Buy Dogecoin?
Well, there is no definite answer to this question. As mentioned before, this cryptocurrency started as a joke project. Its price is extremely volatile. Thus, investing in this cryptocurrency comes with risk. Still, many investors believe that Elon Musk’s initiative could change Dogecoin forever.
Conclusion
Despite its popularity and large market capitalization, Dogecoin has not yet been realized as a full-fledged means of payment. But it does have the potential to reverse that trend. Buying DOGE, like any other cryptocurrency, comes with risks. Therefore, it is important to understand the historical data and current price performance of any cryptocurrency you are interested in.
We hope our detailed guide to Dogecoin (DOGE) has helped you understand what DOGE meaning and DOGE definition are all about and how this cryptocurrency works.
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